The Resurrected
by LuuRox
Summary: The story follows three friends meeting for the first time in Ohio and their lives during the sudden change from a normal ordinary life in the Ohio suburbs to the apocalyptic world ruled by the masses of the undead.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter I: Arrival

I always wondered what life in the US is like. I've seen things on TV that inexplicably both disgust and amuse me but I've never had the chance to experience any of it, personally. I guess living in a small European country that's still struggling with the economic crisis I have never had the means to travel anywhere, pretty much. Well, not until recently. A couple of years ago I've met this guy on the internet and we clicked the first second of the conversation. I remained in contact with him throughout years, but as we chatted I'd meet more and more of his friends from real life and I have to say he grew to be one of my best friends, if not THE best. Anyway, back to the story, I am 21 years old, currently finished my second year of college. Don't act surprised, I'm not a flunky, it's just the way it is here – we start college at the age of 19. So this year I managed to pass every subject I had and get into the state budget. This means I could study the next year for free. Well, with a big success such as this one, I was now able to afford more stuff, as I no longer had to pay huge amounts of cash for education. For a few years now my pen-pal in the US has been inviting me to his home in Ohio. We've been kind of day dreaming, in rare cases even dreaming, about meeting each other in person some day. And now it's here. I've managed to finally persuade my mom to let me go. Yeah, I need permission even though I'm a big boy. After all, she's my main source of income. I'm kind of too lazy to actually make my own money so my mom pretty much still gives me allowance. Anyway, if it wasn't for her I'd never be able to gather enough money for the trip in the first place, but on the bright side I get a free stay in the States! It's now July 12th, 2014. and I depart tomorrow. I'm hoping to see all of my internet buddies then. It's an opportunity of a life time!

The next day, I surprisingly got up quite early, opposed to my usual. Noon. Yes, I know, I'm a lazy bum but I can't help it. I never had anything worth getting up for before, until today. Not only did I woke up early, but I had trouble sleeping last night as well. Must be from all the excitement. I think this is possibly even the first time in my life to wake up before my mother. As I was rolling around the bed still in my underwear, I could hear birds singing outside, letting me know it will be another beautiful sunny summer day outside. The light was penetrating through the blinds and was going straight to my face, which was kind of pissing me off but I wasn't going to let anything ruining this day, so I stood up and went to the washroom to wash my face and wake up already. I was walking around the house like a zombie, dragging myself across the hallway. I mean what normal person gets up at 7AM on a Saturday? So I walked myself over to the sink and splashed my face good a few times and looked in the mirror and thought: "Today's your day, dude. Don't fuck up". I kind of set it up as a mission to have the best time of my life right then and there with my best friends whom I've never even met in my life before. But like the lyrics in that new Summer hit 2014. say: "Ain't nothin' gon' hold us down tonight!". Okay, maybe that's a bit too much, I do plan to have fun but I don't mean stuff like streaking across the town wearing nothing but female undergarments fun like the dudes on the video. Casual get wasted at a party and have a conversation kind of fun. By the time I was done with refreshing and imagining all these different cool scenarios in my head about the trip, I heard a noise in the back. I must've woken up my mom, she's clearly not used to noises around the house while she's sleeping. So I went out and saw her rubbing her eyes looking at me standing before her in front of the bathroom, like she couldn't believe it.

"I'm going to assume you had to use the can and are going back to bed now, huh?"

"Nah, I'm actually up"

She immediately puts on a grin and her eyes shrink as she views me with distrust, as if I'm being sarcastic about it: "Yeah, right. What's the matter, couldn't sleep before the big day?"

"Well, yeah, I had some trouble, but I did fall asleep eventually. I don't know why I'm up, to be honest, but I'm not going back to bed if that's what you're wondering"

She immediately turned around as if she lost interest in this unusual phenomena. "What do you plan on doing now, then?" she asked as she was entering the living room.

I scratched my head for a bit because I really hadn't thought about it so I stuttered the first thing that popped to my mind: "I'm… going… jogging?"

She halted immediately and turned around with a curious face: "Jogging? When did you start jogging?"

"Hey, I jogged before."

"That was last year and you went on three runs and stopped after the first rain fell."

"Well the weather is fine today"

She chuckled a bit but then let me have my way.

Few hours later, it was time to leave the house and head out on my journey. I could tell my mom had a hard time letting go, she had that worried face like any mother does, sending their child far away from them.

"I'll be okay, mom. I'll get you something nice" I told her, attempting to comfort. She smiled and told me to get in the car. Once we got to the airport my dad showed up and wished me good luck. He and my mom had lived separately since my second year of high school. I won't get into details but they're not on bad terms or anything. My immediate family was there with me, now my best friends are waiting on the other side. I am so fired up about it now I am barely holding down my excitement. I have a huge smile on my face I could eat a banana sideways. My parents saw it and put on a smile of their own as they are happy for me and how far I've come in life. I wouldn't hesitate to say they are proud of me. After all, I'm awesome.

As I was passing by security, having my bags checked, my dad was actually holding my mom while they were both waving at me. I honestly haven't seen them holding like that in years. It only emphasized the happiness and I got on the plane like I was already high. Pun intended. After a few moments we were finally in the air and I looked through the little window at the city below and waved at it for the last time. No going back now, all is in check. I'm not panicking at all. Then I find out I'm scared of airplanes. I've never been on one before and I'm definitely not claustrophobic, but I do have somewhat of a fear of heights. I've never really thought about travelling by airplanes before but this was kind of frightening. Wouldn't it be convenient to die like this when I was finally going to catch a break in life? I immediately put myself through all these different movie scenarios where I'm the sole survivor on an uninhabited island, like in Cast Away. If that does happen, Wilson better be there to keep me company. Soon enough, I went into deep thoughts about all sorts of things and completely forgot I was on an airplane. After some time I finally fell asleep. I suppose the lack of sleep from last night finally caught up to me.

Before you knew it, I was flying across the US soil. The voice on the PA woke me up when we were passing over New York City. I've honestly never seen anything like it. It looked like a big cluster of tetris tiles, with the tall, four squares, ones just asserting over the other minor ones. I even saw the Statue of Liberty from up there. I was always big on architecture but instead I went into economics and business. I don't even like economics and business but apparently the architecture college was too expensive and I didn't really have that many alternatives considering my interests. I didn't have any alternatives, actually. Heck, I have no interests. But anyway, I was still kind of squinting when the flight attendant showed up and asked if I'd like anything. I asked for a coffee. I figured I'd need something strong to keep me awake. I was hoping I wouldn't suffer from jet lag 'cause that would seriously throw me off balance. As you may have noticed I'm a guy that loves to sleep in. I might end up sleeping through the day while I'm there, which would kind of ruin the whole point of vacation. I mean who goes to another country just to sleep through the day?

About an hour later I was very close to my destination. I noticed I'm in Ohio when I saw the cornfields. Just kidding. Actually the captain pointed it out, we will be arriving in about 10 minutes. The worst is over. Looks like Cast Away isn't happening after all, although I've always kind of wanted to try out in survival mode. Watching all those movies and people dying in the stupidest ways made me think if it's really like that in real life situations. I figured I'd show all of them how it's done. Maybe I'm just full of myself, though. I guess we'll never know.

The plane has finally landed at the Cleveland airport. My heart is pounding like a drum kit and I'm hoping all goes well. As I make my way through the airport, I notice a blonde male about 6'1 standing not too far away from where I was standing. This was one of those moments when the time stops and everything seems paused and you have that dramatic eye contact. Except this was less romantic. Totally manly. So at this point I'm thinking this trip could get awkward or be pretty awesome and it all depends on this very moment. You know how when you're meeting someone it can get really awkward for the first time if one or both people aren't talking much? I was kind of afraid of that happening because that would mean it would take us a while to feel comfortable being ourselves around each other in person and it would severely diminish the fun. But, luckily, Jake and I just bro hugged like we knew each other for ages. From that point onward it was all normal. We got to his car and I'm just kind of looking around and Cleveland may not be the coolest city for most Americans but in all honesty I was amazed. The city was really looking modern, it's just so different from what I'm used to living in Europe which is a mix of newer structures trying to be adapted to all the old historical buildings made centuries ago. So we are driving around the city, joking and fooling around, and I'm kind of drooling over the windows and screaming inside my head like a teen girl on Justin Bieber's concert. I just can't believe this is happening.

Instead of going straight to his house we went for a drink at a nearby Starbucks coffeehouse. Since we don't have any Starbucks where I come from, I had to trust pansy boy to order me something good. He kind of whispered it to the bartender and he got me this dark gooey thing and it looked really disgusting. He had the evilest smirk on his face and said "bottoms up" and went for his drink. I was just kind of eyeballing this slimy looking "beverage", if you can even call it that, completely disgusted and he was just laughing his ass off. So I dropped some balls, prayed a little and went for it and it turns out it was quite tasty. Jake hates that drink and he thought I would too so he looked disappointed when he saw me finishing it off like a homeless person sucks on a vodka bottle. His disappointment didn't end there 'cause when we were finished, just before paying the bill I stormed out of the coffeehouse in retaliation making him pay the whole thing on his own. He got out a few seconds later, looked at me calmly and said: "We should probably run". Caught me off guard and he started laughing and running towards the car and I was just dug in there with my jaws dropped to the floor. I quickly fastened my pace to catch up to him and got into the car. When we got in he was still laughing and hearing it made me chuckle. When he finally caught some air he tells me he did actually pay the bill. Oh! You got me..

~This is a work in progress and since I'm busy with school may not be updated on a regular basis. The story is original and will evolve into what it's expected. I'm almost done with Chapter I and this is only a fraction of it. The original idea was to write a book, however, it looked more like a blog once I reviewed so I reconsidered. Feedback is welcome and the story is severely influenced by real life. All the main characters are real people and their initial relations are all true.


	2. Chapter 1: Part 2 (Meeting the family)

We are finally driving to his family house now. He lives with his parents in the suburbs of Cleveland and I'm a little ecstatic and freaking out at the same time because I don't know how they will accept me. It's a big family too – both parents, a younger brother and two younger sisters. There's also an older brother that moved out and has his own family now. Luckily Jake has a pretty big house so I will have a room of my own while I'm staying there. After about half an hour we finally arrive at this big white house. It is kind of indented on the property and moved as far as possible away from the road. In the back of the house there was a foresty area covered in fir trees and what not. The house had a ground floor, an upstairs and a loft, which was also a living space, most likely where the guest room is, where I will be sleeping. There was a big garage on the side to accommodate three cars. Three. You see, back where I live we have to save for years to get one. One. Good one, at least, but still. Anyway, he's wealthy but he's not spoiled. Entirely. His parents have a strict policy about it and I kind of like it. They give him an allowance for college but it's not much so he's kind of forced to work to make his own buck and if I ever get wealthy and have a family that's exactly what I'm going to do as well. I want to raise my kids to be able to take care of themselves. I think it's sad when kids get everything handed to them because they get spoiled and never learn to make their own money. I may be a hypocrite regarding this since I don't work for my own money either, but hey, some people are born to be leaders. *wink*

Anyway, as we go in, the whole family is standing in the hallway. They must've heard the car park and quickly assembled the welcoming committee. It was silly and awkward but a warm welcome nonetheless. I felt good and we went through introduction real quick. I met everyone but his younger brother who was out at the time. I took my stuff upstairs and settled in, took a shower and it was lunch time. As I walk into the dining room everyone's already seated. The dining table is one of those long wooden ones you see on TV, usually in rich houses. The family lunch is not something common in my country. Well, actually, maybe I didn't have that feeling growing up in a small family while here we had six people, me included. It reminded me a lot of the scenes from Home Alone and the McCallister family being so freaking massive and kind of restless and unorganized. There you go, in case you want a big family, make sure you keep count of all your kids, at least.

We had a light American meal, with sandwiches, salads and some other minor foods which I can't recall at this moment. It's very strange, because where I come from, lunch is the most important meal of the day, opposed to American dinner. Since I barely ate anything for breakfast, I couldn't honestly satisfy my hunger with fast food and snacks but I had enough to keep me going 'til dinner. I'm going to adjust myself to their customs as much as I can, after all, that's part of the reason I came here in the first place.

After the lunch, Jake and I isolated ourselves, he suggested we go see his best friend, Kylie. Kylie - this girl has been on my mind more than she should have. I can't say I haven't had feelings for people I haven't met before, but she definitely made me realize how easy it is to fall for someone without knowing them in person. It actually means you like their personality, more than anything else, right? You spend so much time talking you get to meet the person better without being distracted by their appearance. And I'm not saying she's not attractive, she's gorgeous! I'm just saying, it makes sense in a way. Anyway, I agreed and we set off to her house. On our way there he noticed I was nervous so he tried to take my mind off of it by making jokes about my height. Ass. I'm only an inch shorter.

I don't have to stress that I was an insecure kid during elementary. I grew past it somewhat during High School but it never fully disappeared. Knowing I'll be meeting a girl I had feelings for ever since he introduced me to her 3 years ago was agitating. I couldn't help but think about making a good first impression. I was hoping everything will be smooth like it happened with Jake when he picked me up at the airport. Nope.

Since Kylie lives only about five minutes away from Jake's house on foot, I didn't get enough time to think what I'm going to say to her the first time I see her. So once we got to her house, Jake knocked the door and I felt my nervousness aggravated with every second that passed by to the point the doors actually started opening. Time stopped for a moment as I glazed down upon the most beautiful face I've seen in my life. Now, since them two know each other since childhood it was easy enough for them to greet. As soon as she diverted her sight towards me I mumbled something and even screwed up the simple "Hi". It was an honest facepalm moment but the surprised look on her face as she opened her mouth while inhaling and her eyes opened wide it didn't matter. She hugged me instantly and gave me a kiss on the cheek. My reaction resembled weather seasons – at first I was surprised and confused, then happy with the biggest smile on my face since the moment I knew I was going to the USA , I blushed and finally felt normal.

Everything seemed to be going well. I wasn't sure if she greets all of the new guys by kissing them on the cheek or she actually has some hidden feelings for me as well. Then it hit me. About two years back we had a talk about me coming over one day and what would happen. We agreed the first thing we do is a nice long hug and a kiss on the cheek. She remembered. Maybe I'm exaggerating, but to me it meant something. It meant she remembers the things we talk about which means she really does care. From that point, the anxiety vanished and everything was just like I dreamed of. The three of us went out for a walk and spoke like we've known each other for ages. Like we've been best friends since childhood. Alright, two thirds of us were, but that's beside the point. This is the best day of my life right now. Since this was middle summer, Jake mentioned there's a party in town tonight at his High School's friend's house. Back in my country in my little town we don't usually make big house parties like the ones that are very common in US. Mainly because the host is always expected to buy all the drinks. No one's stupid enough to buy bunch of alcohol for 50 people of which he knows about 10 well enough. But I noticed people bring their own alcohol to parties in USA. This was my first big house party. Honestly, I've always wanted to go to one. We usually go to night clubs in my town or just hang out outside. Since alcohol is allowed at 18 it's easy to go to night clubs , as well, at earlier age than in the US. I find it ironic how Americans would want to visit Europe and go out more to the night clubs while us Europeans wish to see the USA and go to one of Stifler's parties. How about we all just make a deal and switch places for a while?


	3. Chapter 1: Part 3 (The party)

During the day we hung out just talking about how awesome it is that I'm here today and how much fun we'll have over the next few days while I'm here. Once it turned 6PM we were ready to roll out. Jake was the one driving. Trust me, this is a bad idea guys. I already knew he won't be the one driving us back because he always goes overboard with the drinks. Thankfully we had Kylie with us, who happens to be a nice girl. Jake was the pirate type of a guy at parties. How, you ask? Well, he'd go out, drink 'til he jiggles, look for booty and if he can't find any he'd get into a fight to get rid of excess hormones. Sounds familiar? I bet you all have a similar friend. He can be a bad drunk sometimes, but in all honesty he does the craziest stuff and makes the night that much better.

We arrive at this big house, people already drinking on the front lawn, big American cars all along the road, red beer cups on the ground, the kind I used to see only on TV. And it's 6PM. Back home, we don't go out 'til at least 9PM or something. We stay up later than in the USA, however. Not the point though. So we go in, find the guy that owns the house and Jake introduces us. I played it cool, few of my clever lines and general charisma, I was in. The guys accepted me and I was already invited to the rest of the parties. I figured I'm off to a good start. And I look back and pansy boy is already drinking heavily. "Dude, lay off, it's only 6PM, you'll be done by 8, I'm not babysitting you". I tried to reason with him but he's as stubborn as a mule -"Bro, it's cool, I can handle it"- as he taps his stomach –"Plenty of room here.". I stared at him for a second as he poured another cup of beer "Here, pansy, get at it. Don't let me down". I took my beer, flicked my cup against his and we took a sip. I noticed Kylie wasn't with us at this point, I looked around and noticed her talking with some girls across the room. As I was looking at her and she was unaware of it, but the smile she had made me all warm around my heart. I was getting into some serious trouble over here and I didn't mind. At this point she looked over and saw me looking at her. She smiled at me as Jake interrupted the romantic moment "Dude, I see two cute girls, you ready?". I took a step back, my eyebrows descended as I looked at him "..Ready for what?".

"Pansy, you promised to be my wingman. Mine's the brunette. I know you like them blondes. You're welcome"

"..the blonde's uglier."

"Hey, that's not nice. And it's a coincidence. If it was reversed I'd still give you the blonde"

"No you wouldn't."

"Yeah, probably not"

We chuckled and then I revealed to him that I actually have interest in Kylie. Here's the thing though, Kylie's not only Jake's best friend, them two used to date about a year ago. It's not exactly bro code to date your best friend's ex, and honestly I deserved to get hit for even thinking about it, but Kylie was just so perfect, I had to try. We were a lot alike and just because Jake dated her long time ago means I can't be with her now, even if we're a perfect match? Honestly, bro code has flaws, but at least I had the courtesy to ask. He was actually kind of shocked at first but he didn't seem to mind and said: "Man, if there was any guy I'd rather want to be with Kylie, it would be you. Good luck, bro.". I felt so relieved. In fact it gave me extra motivation knowing he had my back in it. He could maybe even put in a good word.

"You still have to help me get rid of the blonde, though."- he continued as he took another sip of his beer. I smiled at his goofiness and agreed.

The night is going pretty well. It was all I ever anticipated it to be. Strangely that stereotype, that is in most cases very true, about high expectations only bringing disappointment was in fact a dream come true. And the irony behind that stereotype is that despite wishful thinking and expectations, you still manage to get surprised when it comes true. As if you never actually believed it would.

I managed to get Jake a girl, she kept him busy for a while, and most importantly away from trouble. Now I had to make my move on Kylie. I finally managed to get enough courage to walk away from the girl I kept busy since Jake and I started talking to the two, so I "passed the bucket" to some stoner that was leaning on the wall blowing his blunt. It was an asshole move but there was no room for sympathy at this point. Sometimes you have to be selfish to get what you want.

I walked around the house trying to find her, the kitchen seemed to be a hotspot for the irresponsible, drunk and horny college students, playing beer pong across the counter and doing the keg-stand. The place was crowded but I knew I wouldn't find Kylie there. The term "prude" comes to mind. As I passed by the kitchen I found myself in the living room. Pretty decent sized room. It had a big flat screen TV on the right side of the room from my point of entry. Around it was a massive cabinet, stretching from one side to the other, with small space between it and the walls, where they put some flowers. I'd describe them if I knew how but I'm not a botanic. -…nor is it particularly important. The floor was made of parquet, there was probably a carpet somewhere around as well but was most likely removed before the party. The room had two sofas and an armchair sorted in a regular U shape with the opening turned towards the TV. Between the furniture was a glass table with wooden frame and legs. It was fairly well decorated, with wide paintings on the walls and small trees growing in the corners, with a surround system hidden behind them. Despite of all the wood, it looked quite modern. The living room was fairly quiet compared to the kitchen, from which we could now hear loud cheering noise. Although the main focus of the party was the kitchen, there was still a bunch of people spread across the living room, usually divided into smaller groups of up to five people, drinking and talking, and on occasions breaking some dance moves to the music blasting on the surround system. But no sign of Kylie. I was beginning to think she ditched the party early seeing as she came with us, and Jake and I were too busy talking with those two girls. But just when I went out to catch some air from the room full of cigar smoke that was so thick you had to lie down on the ground to see where you're going, there she was. Just outside the house, in the back, sitting on a bench drinking her wine in a glass. I had no idea where she got the wine but she looked so elegant and sophisticated, in contrast to the girls getting drunk and twerking inside the house. I casually put my hands in my pockets and slowly walked over. Just as I was approaching she turned her head and smiled: "Having fun?"

-"Yeah, it's pretty wild in there. Kitchen's getting wrecked. That dude's mom's gonna be pissed"

She chuckled for a second and continued: "Well, he held parties before, I'm sure she was expecting nothing less."

-"So why aren't you inside?"

Her face went from happy to somewhat sad in a split second as she looked down to her drink. I couldn't help but to crouch down and put my hand on her shoulder: "Hey, are you okay?"

-"Yeah, it's just.. this guy I like was with another girl and I just couldn't stay and watch it."

As she finished her sentence, suddenly I was the one needing a shoulder to cry on. _Who's this guy she likes? _I thought as I tried to encourage her: "Well, whoever this guy is, he's an idiot. With an amazing girl like you around, who'd need anyone else?"

She looked up into my eyes and smiled. But the smile is not the kind of smile she gave me the first time our eyes met in front of her doorstep, or the one we exchanged at the party looking at each other across the room. It was the smile of hope that everything will be okay. And while the smile was giving the expression she is going to be okay, the eyes were telling me otherwise.

-"Thank you, Ted. You always know the right things to say."

I sat next to her on the bench and hugged her, repeating to both her and myself that everything will be fine. It felt weird because I knew exactly how she feels and actually felt it the same way she did right then and there. But I had to be strong for her. If it's not meant to be between us at least she deserves to be happy with someone else. I'm not the kind of guy to hold grudge for not having the same feelings reciprocated.

"I'm cold." – she said very calmly and somewhat quietly. Her voice was soothing and she seemed to be feeling quite comfortable as I was holding her. I took my sweater off and gave it to her.

-"Thanks. It's soft. And I like the way it smells."

-"Oh, well thank you. It's Bohor."

She looked up at me confused. "Bohor? Is that a brand?"

"It's a fabric conditioner" – I smiled.

She giggled "Really? Wow. I never heard of it. We use Lenor"

"Oh, Lenor's pretty good. We actually use that as well. I like the black one."

"Alright, fancy pants, I don't know conditioners as well as you do. Satisfied?"

I straighten up a little as I looked her in the eyes, my eyebrows lowered onto my squinted eyes as if I was looking into the sun, a bit startled. She couldn't keep a straight face and started laughing, and her laugh was so contagious that I couldn't help but laugh along with her.

When we finally managed to catch some air, as the laughter was tranquilizing, she once again put on a serious face in a matter of seconds: "So.. what happened to that girl you were talking to earlier?"

The question caught me off guard because we were having fun just a minute ago and the atmosphere changed to something serious so fast I had no time to adjust: "Who, Amanda? Just a new friend."

-"..Potential girlfriend?"- she asked curiously as she slightly nudged me with her elbow.

-"Nah, actually I was helping Jake out. He wanted to meet the other girl so I had to be the wingman. I think it went well."

Suddenly her attitude changed to something more heart-warming, which made me suspect that maybe, just maybe, the guy she was talking about earlier could be me. It's wishful thinking and yet again, I have high hopes that could potentially lead to a disappointment that would result in my being depressed and boring. Because as we sat here, this night, talking to each other in person for the very first time alone, it couldn't be more obvious to me that this girl is everything I expected her to be. And as I was saying earlier, high expectations can surprise you, only this time, the surprise wasn't the fact that she was what I thought she'd be, it was more, because she exceeded my expectations by far. I haven't had a long relationship in my life, they all ended after 4 months at best. No particularly bad reasons why they ended other than no common grounds. And here we are. Kylie is the girl that I find similar to myself in so many ways. She's perfect. Very early to say and probably creepy on a lot of levels, but this was the kind of girl any guy would wish for a wife. And I was hoping it would be me one day that gets that privilege. The sad part is, even though I could imagine us being together for a long time, the reality is that in a week or two, I'd have to go back home, and we wouldn't see each other again for a long time. And despite of all this I was willing to try everything it takes to keep her with me in case something does happen between us, including long distance relationship.

-"Are you okay? You seem a little distracted."

And like a wake up call, I shook it off and looked at her "Oh, yeah. I was just thinking"

-"What about?"

-"...penguins. In suits"

-"What's a penguin doing in a suit?"

-"That's what I was thinking."

She giggled and said I always know how to make her laugh. I felt good to hear it because I really cared what she thought of me.

Few minutes passed by when we heard noises from the house, stuff getting broken and mass hysteria that out-volumed the music. It sounded as if a fight was going on. The illusion of a perfect night broke into pieces as we looked at each other and synchronized while saying "Jake."

We rushed back into the house and there he was, beating on a guy on the floor as people tried to break them up.

-"Nice going, Jake. So much from staying out of trouble" I commented as they pushed him towards us while he was still keeping eye contact with the other guy who was now bleeding from his nose. He turned towards us and then we noticed a bruise on his cheekbone. Kylie and I immediately went from pissed to sympathetic and grabbed him by the shoulders: "Jake, what happened?"

-"Well, you know that girl I was talking to earlier?"

I looked at Kylie as we already knew where this was going. Good ol' Jake was in a lot of trouble over girls in the past. This was no different.

-"Yeah, what about her?"

-"Well, apparently she has a boyfriend, which she forgot to mention while stuffing her tongue down my throat. He came out of nowhere and threw a pretty good punch."- he said as he was rubbing his right cheek that was still in pain.

-"Alright, alright, can't pin this one on you, but you gotta be more careful dude. It's becoming a habit."

-"What can I say, ladies can't resist."

Kylie rolled her eyes, which I thought was ironic since them two dated in the past.

As we were getting our stuff before leaving, he asked the most awkward question: "So, you two together now or what?"

It left Kylie and I speechless while we exchanged confused looks and Jake expected an answer.

-"Well, not yet"- I replied and smiled, making it sound like a joke. Jake seemed satisfied with the answer and Kylie felt a bit uncomfortable as she blushed. We decided to walk home and leave the car behind because it seemed more adventurous. - And safer considering Jake's condition.

On our way home we are fooling around along the road, as Jake and I are pushing each other and Kylie is teasing us about acting like kids. "Prude."- said Jake as he started talking about the time he wrote the notorious word on her driveway about a year ago. Kylie came back with a random story of Jake brushing his teeth with a hair brush, drunk as a skunk and breaking the side mirror of her car with his face while falling down. I always knew he was a beauty queen. We will always remember the day Jake broke a mirror with his face. They exchanged these stories about each other along the way and I was the outsider but hearing the stupid stuff Jake did and awkward situations Kylie had experienced made me laugh none the less. The day ended with a hug with Kylie while Jake was watching. I was faced to him as he was giving me very sexual hand gestures to which I kept shaking my hand for him to stop. She noticed me moving around so she looked at him and just like in a movie scene, he looked away, innocent as ever. She gave me another kiss on the cheek and went in. Jake and I spent the next five minutes of walking talking about Kylie and me. He gave me some tips, encouraged me a little, talked about stuff only a drunk person can think of, and then half way towards home he started puking on some guy's front lawn.

"Dude, that's nasty."- I thought as I watched it, feeling sick myself, trying not to 'contribute'.

"It's cool, I don't like this guy anyway."


	4. Chapter 1: Part 4 (First bite)

The next morning, or should I say noon, I woke up feeling pretty fresh. I'm surprised no one woke me up as I thought Americans are big on getting up early, I was sure someone would've barged in to wake me up for breakfast. I got dressed and went down from the loft and entered the kitchen. Jake's mom was reading some article at the table and noticed me walk in: "Sleep well?"

-"Yes, very well. Thank you. I don't suppose Jake's around?"

-"He went to get me something from the store, he should be back any minute now"

I slightly nodded and slowly walked over by the fridge to see if I could eat anything real quick, feeling awkward while doing it. It feels like a taboo going through people's fridge at a house you've never been to before. Not having anything to eat since last night's dinner, I was pretty hungry and couldn't bother with it.

-"Need anything?" she asked me as I opened the fridge.

-"Oh, no thank you, I got it."

You could hear my stomach crying out to me, shouting 'feed me' ever since I woke up. I don't know why, but I always try to cover it up. It just feels weird making sounds from your guts. Anyway, I made myself a sandwich real quick and excused myself from the kitchen. Just as I walked out, Jake came in through the front door: "Oh, look who's up. Did you make me anything?"

-"I'm the guest here, if anything, you should be making me sandwiches."

He smirked and said: "Touché, pansy. Anyway, wanna head out later?"

-"Uh, sure man. I'm up for an adventure."

-"Alright, sweet. Let me just drop this stuff off and I'll be right back."

Jake went into the kitchen while I was moving around the house eating my sandwich, minding my own business when I overheard a noise from the living room. Mr. Ritz was watching the television so I slowly edged over by the door to hear what's going on.

_"…a man was found deformed, lying on the floor in an alley in Yorkville, Chicago, state of Illinois, last night at around 2AM . The victim has suffered severe injuries all over the body, but most affected area is the neck and the face, as well as the hands and forearms, which leads to belief the victim was attempting to defend themselves. The victim has been identified as Miles McMillan by the driver's license he had carried in his valet, which was, along with other valuables, intact, which leads to believe this was not a robbery. Furthermore, the first clues show bite marks all over the victim's body. It is still uncertain whether the bite marks were made by stray animals or perhaps it's an act of cannibalism. One thing is certain, the wounds inflicted by teeth were carried out before the man had deceased. We will know more details after the autopsy. The family and friends mourn and are in disbelief how someone could do something so barbaric. In other news…"_

After hearing that story I suddenly felt sick and couldn't carry on with my sandwich. I'm squeamish when it comes to eating and watching something disturbing. I gave what was left of my sandwich to Jake as soon as he came back.

-"…what'd you do to the sandwich?"

-"Nothing man, I'm just not hungry anymore. I just saw the news. Some guy got bitten to death in Chicago. Pretty ruthless."

-"You mean beaten?"

-No, I literally mean bitten. Dude had his whole face bitten off, they couldn't even identify him without the driver's license."

At this point even Jake felt nauseous and decided to throw the sandwich: "Come to think of it, I'm not that hungry either."

Some five minutes later we finally got out of the house and decided to go for a little drive and have some fun. We picked up Kylie and some other folks and decided to get alcohol and have a small private party at a park a bit . By the time we all grouped up there were three full cars of us. Not exactly what we were thinking but it didn't matter. We arrived and set up in the middle of the green field in a mid summer day, rays of sun shone through the leaves like a shower. How very poetic, I thought.

Not long after, the music started playing. I couldn't tell what song it was but it didn't matter, people started fooling around, dancing, the alcohol was being consumed restlessly. As the sun started shining brighter and the day got hotter people started taking off their shirts. Now, I can't be the party pooper can I?

"Someone's been working out."- Kylie noticed as I took off my shirt carried by the moment. "Well I couldn't show up at your doorstep looking like a slob. How would you want me then?"- I quickly replied, without a thought, clearly still influenced by the wild atmosphere of youth. She looked at me with a slight smirk but as if she was hurt by what I said: "Is that what you think of me? That I'd only go for you for your looks?"

-"Well, that and clearly my personality."- I tried to get myself out of the sticky situation, and by the look of my face I was clearly in an awkward position. _Good thinking, Ted. You idiot_- I though to myself.

She smirked and said she's kidding, which was a major relief. At that point I felt a cold slimy thing hit my back and ooze down my back which creeped me out in an instant. "What the hell?"- I said as I looked back to see what it was, trying to take a look at my back, and noticed Jake in the back and two other guys laughing their shoes off. "Seriously? Mud balls?"- I asked in a disgusted manner. "Alright then. An eye for an eye. Kylie, help me out here"- I quickly remarked as I leaned over to where a small mire area was, bellow some tree. "You're on."- responded Kylie promptly, taking a handful of mud herself, while the guys scattered towards other mud areas to 'replenish'. In the matter of minutes it turned into an all out mud fight with most of us involved.

Once it all settled about half an hour later, only because we were out of mud, we sat down to have some drinks and rest a little from all the running around. "Alright, Ted. Even Steven."- said Jake with a nice mud ball stuck right above his left eyebrow.

"You got a little something, here."- I said, pointing at my own face, taunting him. "Yeah, yeah, laugh it up, pansy. Good shot though."- he replied removing the mud off his forehead.

"Thanks for saving me back there."- said Kylie- "You took one for me."

"Oh, no problem. Any time."- I replied looking her directly in the eyes. _I was actually trying to run away from Jake and took that one by accident. But she doesn't have to know that_- I thought while smiling. "Who knew Jake would be such a terrible shot. I thought you used to play baseball, pansy."- I continued to ridicule him. "No man, it's just you're so short I couldn't adjust my aim that low."- he fired back. I laughed and accepted it.

As the party went on, more and more people showed up. It was turning into a big party in the open. This reminded me of my final days of High School when every day was like that. My generation from school would come out to the town park and party 'til late hours from noon. I suppose it was some sort of a tradition of our small town. It was the best week of my life and I thought I'd never experience it again. So I distanced myself from the party a bit and sat down to observe it from outside trying to remember it and enjoy it. The day soon turned into the night. We've been out here partying for hours without any concerns. This is our day. Our summer. We are appreciating our youth as much as we can, creating memories and friendships.

Around 10PM Kylie came up to me and asked if I'm okay. "Yeah, I'm great! This is great."- I replied with a lot of ardor. "I can't remember the last time I had this much fun. I have to say it was worth it to stop fooling around and finally study for real to experience this. I've been too much focused on having fun and doing nothing but dreaming about having the time of my life but not investing myself into achieving it and not willing to sacrifice any of my time to actually study."

"Yeah, I know what you mean."-she said as if she understood. I looked at her astonished with a smile "What are you talking about, you always studied. That's why I got to talk to you so rarely."

-"Well yeah, I guess I know how to organize better. You could learn something."- Kylie was now taunting me, but she did make a good point. I can learn something from her. She's been hard working ever since I met her. Total opposite of me on that part. "Alright alright, whatever. But you're putting yourself too much into it, I think. After all, you didn't earn yourself the nickname Bookworm for reading books on invertebrates."

Kylie glanced at me as I said the most stupid thing while barely holding back her laugh: "Wait what? Bookworm? When did I get that nickname."

-"Oh you didn't know? Totally my idea. I thought it suits you. It's how I keep myself calm. I put overachievers down to feel like I'm not so bad being a procrastinator.". She chuckled a bit at my goofiness and stood up. "Where are you going?"- I asked her as she arose from the ground brushing off the dirt from her bottom. "I think I'm heading home. It's been a long day. I didn't think I'd stay here this long in the first place."- she replied. I stood up myself to walk over with her towards Jake.

"It was a good day today. Glad you came along."- I told her while we slowly approach the ongoing party. Just as we looked over to look for Jake, we saw him instantly, making out with some girl. I looked back at Kylie and she looked back at me a bit awkwardly. "Uh, hold right here, I'm gonna go get him."- I told her. I walked over to the two and nudged Jake slightly as he turned his face towards me, squinting his eyes trying to tell who it is. He couldn't tell because the fire behind me made a shadow of me. "Bro, we gotta get going. Kylie wants to head out."- I said. "Oh it's you. Dude, I'm in the middle of something."- he replied slightly leaning his head towards the girl and back with his eyes looking at her at the same time. "Dude, come on. We're going home. We've been here long enough. I hate to spoil the fun but we've been out here since this noon. I'm hungry man. I haven't had anything to eat since then. Half a sandwich. HALF."- I emphasized how much I wanted to go back. He gave in and decided to ditch the party.

On our way back we stopped at Kylie's place so she can go. "I had a great time today. See you tomorrow you two. Drive safe."- she said as she got out of the car. "See ya tomorrow, Kylie."- Jake and I replied, with an exhausted voice.

We got to the Ritz residence and made our way in to the house. "Dude, I am exhausted."- I told him with clearly visible bags under my eyes. I looked like I was falling asleep.

-"Yeah, you smell exhausted too."- he replied.

-"It's those damn mud balls, you idiot. Why'd we even have a mud fight, there was nowhere to wash it off. Stupid."

-"I don't know, but it was sweet."

-"Yeah, yeah, I'm gonna go take a shower and eat something."- I told him.

-"Alright man, don't use up all the water."

I looked up at the stairway whining. What a drag. I have to climb this now? Really? I made my way up supporting on the fence and finally reaching the bathroom.

About ten minutes later I walked out feeling fresh as ever. There's just something about taking a shower that wakes you right up. So I got down to have something to eat and Jake was there. "Mind making a sandwich for a bro?"- I asked with audacity. He laughed. The he pointed at the fridge: "Food's right there, pansy. Help yourself out."

-"Some bro you turn it out to be."

-"Call it even."

So I made myself something to eat as Jake finished his stuff, while most of the Ritz family was in their rooms by this time. It was about 11PM. "Man, I'm gonna go take a shower now."- he replied as he cleaned up behind him and climbed up the stairs.

I got bored of eating in the kitchen so I made my way to the living room to turn on the TV.

I kept changing the channels looking for something good. _No wonder no one watches TV here, there's nothing to watch_- I thought as I went through channels. I came across a news channel and decided to halt for a second to see what's going on. That incident from earlier today that I overheard suddenly came to mind as I was interested to find out more on the topic.

_…reports are coming in from all over Illinois, Wisconsin and Iowa with similar mysterious murders like the one from last night when a man was bitten to death by an unknown perpetrator. It would seem whoever it was is not acting alone. The police had restricted access for the media to the crime scene and there are no given explanations for this. There have also been reports of US military taking interest in the murders which has lead to many people speculating about the incidents. It is unclear whether there are serial killers on the loose acting together. The autopsy conducted on the first corpse showed the bite marks were indeed made by humans. It would seem cannibalism is on the rise…_

"Oh god, come on. Every time I eat I hear something like this. What the heck is going on in this world?"- as I said that Jake came down to see me sitting on the sofa eating while watching TV. "What's up?"- he asked me looking at the news himself. "That murder from last night. Turns out it was a cannibal attack. And not only that, there have been more cases all over the mid west."- I replied sort of worried. "Well. Let's hope there's not a Silence of the Lambs sequel."- he replied as if it was nothing.

"Dude, Illinois isn't that far. And It's clearly spreading. And by the way, there are sequels to Silence of the Lambs, already."

-"Relax pansy, the cops will get them. Besides they're spreading west. We're good. And really? I should get down to watching that, I loved that movie."

-"Yeah, I guess I'm being a little dramatic. I mean, what are the chances? Right?"


End file.
